Branding + Mind-Body-Spirit Connection w/ Erin Davis

You may be surprised to read that the Mind-Body-Spirit connection can show up and support your branding. (I know I was!) But once I sat down to discuss the topic with Erin Davis, it all clicked into place & made perfect sense! Erin shares how a strong brand strategy supports marketing on days you’re just not feeling it, how it makes content marketing easier, & even walks you through an exercise to identify or go deeper with your why-how-what of business. You know authenticity is critical to business success in 2024 & beyond—this conversation is the bridge that’ll help you embrace & embody what makes you you faster!

➡️ Get the full show notes here!

Connect w/ Erin:
Website

Get SEO to work for you—with done for you SEO Optimization from SEO copywriter, Brittany Herzberg. More details here!

Join me & Shine with SEO✨ ($47)
This is the Workshop all about Blogging—specifically for Business Owners! Get clear on the 12 topics you should blog about in 2025.
Includes:

• 2 live calls (with replays)
• Business Owners Guide to Blogging (aka blogging resources)

———
Find B on: Instagram, YouTube, Threads, LinkedIn

Often mentioned:
Buzzsprout (get $20 off)
Hello Audio (15% off w/ code: BASICB)
Legal templates ($50 off w/ code: BASICB)
Styled Stock Society
Brain.fm (1 mo. free!)
Book of the Mo. Club
HoneyBook (25% off)

(*affiliate links included, which means I might make a lil money when you click. I only recommend people, products, & programs I use & ❤️)

🎉 This podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.

Transcript

0:05

Welcome back to the Basic BE podcast. I am so happy to have you here, and I'm really thrilled to have Erin Davis here. She and I are going to be talking about building a brand that aligns with your body, mind and spirit. And I was reading something that she actually shared with me, and she actually feels like it's a really critical piece of what has made her business really sustainable and her. Her life and her business be able to, like, work synergistically together. Let me just read her bio to you and then we'll get into actually meeting Erin. Erin is a brand strategist, marketing coach, and mama. With a degree in communications and two decades of experience, she helps women build authentic brands aligned with their spirit, mind and body. Her holistic true you brand method offers clarity and confidence, so marketing feels natural, especially for when you don't want to show up. Erin, hi. It's great to have you. Hey, Brittany, thanks for having me. I'm super pumped to be here. Of course. I'm really excited to have you here and I'm going to give you the question that you're familiar with that everybody gets, and you can't mess this up. So whatever comes to mind is the perfect answer. Which do you believe is the most important for sales? SEO, storytelling, or social proof? Let me first say my favorite one is storytelling. I think it comes naturally to me. It makes me think of everything from childhood stories to parts of our history and things that are happening all the time that I just use for content in my work. You already know that SEO is not my favorite thing, nor maybe let's call it not one of my gifts and social proof. I don't know. I feel like that's a little obvious. Like we need the credibility to let somebody that doesn't know us know that, you know, what we have or what we're offering has value and can serve them too. So my short answer is that I really think that each of them individually are good, but they probably each live into their most fullest potential when used together. So I think, like, a number of different things in business, they're designed to work together and they can work individually, but really they work best together. So my answer is maybe the boring. All three. That is not boring. That is my favorite answer. Good. I know you read the cheat code. No, it's a perfect answer. So I want to start by just asking you, like, what does the mind, body, spirit, spirit, mind, body connection have to do with business and branding? Well, I think it sounds a little, maybe flowery or wooy. Or something. But in my bio you read, I've been doing this for a really long time. I've worked with a variety of different clients, some quite large, some maybe what you'd just consider a small business and solopreneurs. And what I've come to learn is that without having kind of our healthiest humanity showing up in what we're doing on a daily basis, the business version of us, the humanity in our business also struggles. So the mind, body, spirit connection is closely aligned with the why, how, what connection. And so when we get that mind, body, spirit articulated and we're kind of living our best self in that world, then it translates well to our why, how, what in our business. And that is really the crux of what I call the true you brand method is to start there and flex those muscles and get good at that and it starts to seamlessly flow into our work. And that's the sustainability part. Like, we can continue to show up because we've got this alignment and we've taught ourselves and articulated how we're going to do that. So that even on those days when we don't want to show up or we're like, I'm not feeling it, we can anyway. Yeah. Will you go into that a little bit more about the why, how, what? Yeah, so the why is kind of that big reason that we are either living life, doing what we do, why we're showing up even when we don't want to, what gets us out of bed in the morning, that's the big driver for us both personally. And you can just apply that straight across to your business. It can be the same why, it can be a different why. The how is what I like to think of is like the personality of both you and your business. So that encompasses your thoughts, it's your mind, it's your values, how you show up to do business when you are delivering upon your what or the action, the body, the doing of your work and of your life. So the how, if you have a, I don't know, a value of, well, I'll pick mine. Authenticity. So I show up to work with you in the most authentic way possible. And that means that I'm real with you. And that actually is just kind of one of my gifts. And it draws out the kind of, the realness, the rawness of my clients. And we can create then a framework and a structure for them to live from that makes sense to them, that is natural for them. And those kind of three elements, just like your three elements work best when they're designed and functioning together. And I think the other part is, like, it's the feeding of all of those on a regular basis that keeps their power. Right. So designing a brand and creating a brand guide, which to me is a lot more than your colors and your fonts and your logo. Right. I kind of think of those as like the outfit. You know, you have accessories and you have a style to what you're wearing. And we all look at that and we're human, so we make a judgment. Right. Or we just kind of have maybe some assumptions, let's call it. But there's got to be more below that. There's got to be more to you to create connection and to create relationship and let's call it loyalty, which is what we all want in our work. So the continual feeding of each part, the why, the how and the what during all of our work and kind of just throughout life is what perpetuates our ability to stay in business and be successful and not just changing. Like, oh, gosh, now this is the popular trend, or now that's what people in my line of work or in this industry are doing. And especially in the online world, where you could pick a new thing to follow every day. You really could. A new person. Right. A new style. Or, you know, if you're choosing your marketing and you're like, oh, this is the thing on Instagram or this is the thing on that platform, when we know who we are and how we want to show up, we can apply those things and pick and choose the ones that work best for us and that we are going to do the best at. So the why is like, why we're doing what we're doing, how is how we're showing up to it, and the what is what we're actually delivering on. Yeah, like those services, the kind of the what's the widget you're making? Right? Yeah. And something that you touched on was you're getting to show up in business in that authentic way, but you're also existing as a human in an authentic way, which sometimes feels a little bit harder to truly show up. Like, on a regular, everyday basis, just doing your stuff. We have a certain feeling of how we need to show up for a business and how we need to show up so that people know us, like us, trust us and want to hire us. And we maybe don't feel like we have to be as friendly or as likable on a regular, everyday basis, just like as the person existing and going and getting groceries and Filling up the gas, like, yeah, I could imagine. So I can definitely see how this really helps you to show up in business and in your personal life. And it can be kind of challenging. I think it's also how you help if you don't work alone, how you are tooling those you might work with. Even if it's a contractor or if you have kind of a small team, how do you want them to show up and be the brand or be the human that represents the business? I used to work in fundraising for nonprofits. And like, I was on the marketing end, but any sort of marketing in a nonprofit, I guess in business as well. The point is to get donations or to have support returned for that effort. And so I went to fundraising school because I was kind of like, oh, gosh, like, I'm a marketing person, but, like, fundraising is like a whole different ball of whack. So I did this, this kind of mini training school, and they said something that stuck with me forever. And it's that people don't give to causes, they give to people. And I think it translates really perfectly into our businesses, into your listeners. Businesses. People don't do business with businesses. They have a relationship or they do something with another person. And a brand helps your business show up as that humanity, especially in that first touch point before they've interacted with you. And if you have a team of people, you want your team or those representing you to show up as that person that you want your business to be, and that makes that initial connection before you can start really developing or nurturing that relationship. And that idea flows out into every marketing activity that you do, Which I kind of just see marketing as like, it's a. We're just sharing, Right? We're just connecting with people and sharing information and acting in ways that you would in a one on one basis. Even if the audience is larger, whether it's a large email list or a large podcast audience or a large Instagram audience, I think we always should be acting as if we're interacting with one individual. And a brand helps you do that. Yeah. And I like how you even likened it to being the human side, like, humanizing the business, shall we say? Yeah. Before they actually get to meet that person and all of that. Actually, the fundraising in the nonprofits makes a lot of sense to my brain right now because I have several SEO clients who are in the nonprofit space. So I'm just like, connecting all the dots in my head. I'm like, oh, yeah, I can definitely see that it does really make a difference. I mean, even if you think of, like, I don't know, the first thing that came to my mind at least, is the St. Jude's like around Christmas, you'll see the St. Jude's commercials. Sure. They have different individuals that they bring out. They're showing you humans, they're showing you people, so that it's not just like the name of St. Jude. Like, you're actually getting to see the people. Yeah, well, social proof. I mean, that's you connecting another person with your potential client, because they're going to connect with their story, they're going to connect with their result, they're going to connect with. It could even be the look. Right. Sometimes you want to see somebody who looks like you and is experiencing what you're experiencing, and you're resonating with that person. And then the next step is the business transaction. Or what do they say? A hundred touches or something? I don't know. It's something. Some ridiculous number when you get that transaction. But it. It starts with some sort of human connection. They go hand in hand. Yeah, they really do. I know this has really shown up for you with your life and your sustainability with life, business, everything. Do you have, like, an example, do you feel comfy sharing of how that's actually, like, impacted you personally? Well, yeah, I can be, like, really honest. I am not the youngest person anymore, and so I am in a season of life where my body is not the same it was before. And I don't know, when you're younger, like, if you're under stress, your body has this resiliency that it changes as you get older. And I have found, and I'll be really honest, I have designed my brand with this mind, spirit, connection really intimately in it. But I'm human, and I don't always do the things that I say I'm gonna do, although I know what they are. You know, I always. I'm always like, this is what I should be doing. And when I don't want to make that decision, I know what to do because I've got it written down. But that body connection has become far more important than it ever was in my life before. I cannot show up to do something like this, to do the harder client work where it takes, you know, a lot more of that mind connection. I can't do it if my body isn't supported. And I have to do a lot more now than I did in the past. And I. I just didn't really recognize that part as integral as it actually is. And so that's how it shows up for me. Like, I need to actually support my body, whether it's through healthy eating or movement throughout the day. This isn't just like a, oh, I'm not feeling good, I need to do something. Like, I has to be a routine. My body's, like, made that not a choice anymore. But when I do that, I'm more creative. My time can be lower because the quality is higher. I am able to show up for clients and kind of hold what they need and just perform better. And so, I mean, our humanity is made up of those three things, right? It's what we do, it's how we interact, and it's why we're doing it. Those are those that mind, body, spirit, all of those things. And if we ignore any of those things, it's to our detriment. We can survive, we can keep doing it. We can go through the motions for a really long time, years even. And actually, it's what made me pivot. My business is I had gone years successfully, and I hit that kind of proverbial burnout. And I had the skills and I knew the routines and I knew what to do and I knew how to show up. But I had lost the balance and I'd lost the alignment. But what I realized was, in looking back, I had been crafting and preparing all of this brand stuff that I'm talking about for my clients, but I hadn't really done it for myself. And so that's where Matchbox Women began. So I have been in the marketing and communications business, you know, my entire professional career. It's what I went to school for. But this iteration of my business is ensuring that the brands and the marketing that I help clients do begins there. And so they learn to build the muscles that I have learned and that I've seen be successful all this time. So now the framework has all that built into it, and, you know, you learn and grow on your way and do it in a way that you don't need me. You know, after our time, you've created your wings and you have the muscles and you go be and do. I love that. I think I have my answer, but I'd love to hear from you, like, what really makes it different to work with you for the branding aspect, because we see brand people all over the place. Yeah, good question. I think you can get branding done. Branding. I'm putting up air quotes for the listeners probably pretty quickly. You can ask somebody and pay a lot or a little, depending on what they're offering and get something. What you get from me is a framework that helps you build your muscles. And I have not only tested it on clients, but I've tested it on myself. And I have learned how to lead you through what makes the difference. And what makes the difference is drawing that stuff out of you. Because. Okay, let me use Abby, a client, as an example. Abby went from being a hairstylist to a salon owner. And so she loved the salon she worked at, and that's the salon she took ownership of, but she wanted to create, you know, her own. Let's call it brand. She wanted to create that salon as the human that she wanted it to be. And there are hairstylists everywhere. You can go absolutely anywhere on earth and get your hair done. But what's different about Abby is not only her skill, and that is, you know, part of it. She's been doing it, you know, I think since she was 17 years old. She's, you know, got curly hair, experience, so she's got these really diversified and kind of niche skills. But the difference is Abby. The difference is how Abby shows up to do that, how she tools her team, how she creates an atmosphere in her salon. And that is what we draw out together. That is what we help you articulate. And so no matter what it is that you're doing working with me, we work to draw out that essence and articulate it, put words to it, so you can show up and do it, and so can those that you've called to be around you and do your work with you so that they can do it that way, too. And it sounds like you're drawing that stuff out, but you're really factoring them in to every aspect of whatever bit of branding that you're giving them, like you said, so that they can be there and have a presence on days that they don't really feel like doing that or they can't, for whatever reason. Yeah, I don't have, like, a closet of clothes that I'm gonna, like, put on you. We're gonna design that together, girl. That's. I. You know, the. The right brand, the right style for you is something only, you know, but there is a framework, and there are the. All the usual marketing things that you need to have, whether it's something like your mission, your vision, your value statements, your value proposition. Let's articulate your services. You know, let's talk about how you're going to deliver upon these. Yes, it's all those mechanics, but there's that piece. There's that. I don't know. I kind of like to call it the magical part. It's only defined once you get in and start working on it. So how is it that you really help and how do you arm your clients so that they can show up on those days? Like, are there any tactile things that you give them that you could talk about? Yeah, so I have a course. It's hands off by me. I mean, there's video teachings, but I have a course. And at the end of it, you build your brand guide. I also have a version where you do the course alongside me. And the tangible item is your brand guide that you have at the end. And that brand guide houses everything in it, including your. The identity pieces, right? Your outfit, your accessories, the logo and the colors. And so that's like a tangible piece. And as a part of that process, I recommend and lead my clients to choose three or less main marketing techniques. So I just think at the end of the day, what I have seen, whether it was my larger clients or it's been individuals, we really can't do that many things really well all at one time. And so I want them to choose, like, what are the things not just that are other people in your industry are using, but also what can you show up and do well on a consistent basis? Because if there's one thing about marketing, it's that consistency is kind of the key in all of it. And yes, your messaging, all of that, a lot of those things will come. But being able to have the habit of consistently showing up in a space is what tells your future clients and customers that, like, I am here for the relationship, right? I am here for the long term. This is about loyalty, and I'm going to serve over the long term. And so choosing, you know, one to three marketing activities that you can do really well, your question was like, kind of, what do my clients get? And that would be it. We decide, what are these going to be? It doesn't mean they can't change. Certainly they can change, right? We're not like putting you into a box that you never get out of. But, you know, let's make this choice and let's decide how long you want that to be so that you can do your thing and show up real and consistent until you decide, like, okay, I'm ready to either add or just swap out something else. And actually, as it relates to your brand, yeah, you can put it on the shelf because I think you have done the work to build the muscles to decide who you and this, you know, person of your business is going to be. But I think you need to revisit it. What feels right twice a year, three times a year, once a year, pull that back out and go, is this who we still want to be? Is this still our why? Is this still our value system and how we want to show up? Do these services, are they still meeting our clients? Do we need to tweak them? Do we need to shift them? Because actually, I think what my clients have found over time is that the why and the how doesn't really change. That kind of stays the same. But your services can certainly shift, right? I'm sure you have found that over time, like, you know, clients actually need a little more of this and a little less of that, right? So that stuff changes all the time. Or when you want to go reiterate your business or riff on something, like, you've got that flexibility because you've got this core pillars already in place. But definitely the brand as well as, you know, the marketing tactics are things you want to revisit. But if they always just kind of live in your head or they're kind of this fleeting or esoteric thing, you know, then that's when I think you kind of get blown by the wind or blown by the trends, and you're kind of like, oh, I'll try this or I'll try. And then you get exhausted and you're like, oh, which one do I do? You know? But if you have a backdrop of things you've already articulated and decided for yourself, then when you make a change or you decide that a trend or a tactic does fit for you, you're making an intentional and deliberate decision. Not well, Erin and Britney said. And then you put it on and you're like, ew, this doesn't work for me. Like, and then you get defeated and you're. You've wasted time and, yeah, no, that's perfect. And even as you're talking, and especially as you're saying, like, you can get blown by the winds of change, which. I love that phrase. You need to put that somewhere. The picture that's coming to mind is just, it's such an energy leak when you're so worried about, like, fitting the mold or doing the thing and not being yourself. And I did that for the longest time, and let me tell you, if you're not there right now, it is exhausting and it is so not helpful because it doesn't actually. Sticking with the wind analogy, it doesn't actually put any wind in Your sails. You're. You've got your. Like, the little dinghy that's getting, like, bobbled around. Yeah, it's just, like, smacked around everywhere. This definitely has to be a part of your thing now. Now that I'm, like, talking this out, but. Well, for our future work, please remember this. Okay. We have it documented now on the podcast. But you have to be so comfortable. And this is a big reason why the podcast even exists, is, like, you need to show up as who you are, but you have to figure out what that is first. And then you really have to step into it and embrace it and be willing to say, like, nope, this is me. Like, it's a little intimidating at first. Someone will tell you something nice or someone will, like, see you. It's like, wait, that worked. Okay, I'm going to keep doing that. So. But you have to do the brave thing and take that first step. And I'm still in the process of, like, taking the steps, but it gets easier. Yeah, I totally agree. And actually, for any listener that's kind of like, oh, my gosh, I have so far to go. Like, I'm not. I'm not there. Well, sister, I'm sitting in that camp because I do this for my clients, and I've been doing this for a long time, and I often have to go, wait, why am I doing this? How did I say I'm going to show up? Like, it's probably why, you know, for me, God called me to do this because he was like, aaron, I know you're going to need a reminder all the time, all the time. So let's do this. And know you're going to know that it works, because I keep going back to it. Yeah. So now I show up to help other women be able to have access to this and build the resource for themselves so that they don't feel like, what the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this? I know, because it really can feel like that. And you were talking a little bit about consistency and being intentional, too. And that's a big thing with SEO. You probably know these. But the three questions that I always ask my clients and even ask myself whenever I'm jumping into an SEO project is, who do you help? How do you help them? And what do you want to be known for? Or as? There's a reason that I asked those questions. And if you haven't sat down and, like, answered them for yourself, please take 10, 15 minutes and go do that right now. Just pause this wherever you are. But the reason I do. That is because those end up being guideposts. Not only for me. Totally. It's forcing you to sit down and think about that. And they get to be guideposts for you. Just like you're talking about giving guideposts to your clients. Because it's really nice to have those reminders or those things. It's part of why I put my values on my website. Because I'm like, okay, this is a filter that I can run some things through. I love that that's the right statement. Because I think a brand can help you make business decisions. And it's because it's the filter. Just like you said, it is the filter by which you make those decisions. Like, okay, does this back up against my values and still feel right? Does this back up against my why and my big priorities, my biggest purpose, and still feel right if you didn't have those things? We're human. We can rationalize the crap out of anything, right? Anything. So if somebody's. Somebody's done a really good job of selling us on something, then, you know, we're gonna let that wave take us over. And a brand and obviously, like, that same work that you're doing is that filter that makes you go, okay, I know how to make this decision. And even if it's hard, in fact, if it's a hard decision for you, it might be an opportunity for you to go, okay, these things that I've articulated, do they still resonate with me? Because just like we've said, the brand is the humanity of the business. Humans change and humans evolve, and we have experiences that inform us and change us. And that's okay. Like, there's no hard and fast rule that, like, no, the business gods are not going to come down and slap you on the hand. Like, you get to change. You get to reinvent and evolve and riff off of that place in your work as you want. And those are some of my favorite clients to work with. I've been talking about this a lot this week, so it's very top of mind for me because those are the people who really see the value of investing in something that's pretty long term, like branding, like SEO. They know where they want to go, even if that's in a new direction. A lot of times they have a team, even if that team is just another extra person. And they do know the why, they do know the how. They are potentially changing the what. But they've got a really clear vision of where they want to go and where they want to take this. And I realized after a while, like, I was not operating with a vision. I was just like, yeah, this is fun. I'm good at this. People like it, they're paying me. And then it was like one day Sally stopped me and she was like, but what's your vision? I was like, I don't really know. Let's explore that. Yeah. And it creates depth and it creates, you know, something more to work from. And it's just that part of the cool, like, evolutionary element of entrepreneurship that I think draws a lot of us to this style of work. It's not just, you know, time, freedom, or, I don't know, all the other things. It's that ability to have a say in the design of how you do the hard work that you're doing. It's no less hard. It's just that you have a say. My body's important in how I show up. My values are important in how I show up. My why. And actually, to that point, anybody who's listening, that's not an entrepreneur, which maybe you don't have a lot of those. I actually think that a brand, you know, we've been talking about how personal it can be. And I have two, like, work besties. Right. So there are women also in business that are struggling right now and they're contemplating doing some, like, employment style side work. Right. To kind of get them through this season. And it makes me think. And we've talked about how the brands that they have can fuel how they do life in that employment job where they don't get to make all those choices, but they have decided who they are. Yeah, they have decided how they want to be and why they're doing this and how they're going to treat those around them. So I think the extended benefit, if you will, goes far beyond just, you know, how am I going to market? And yeah, I just found it to be a really, like, satisfying and sustainable part of doing business in this way. Yeah, I love that idea of taking that and applying it, especially as an employee. Having been in some rather sucky employment situations, I could see how that would still allow you to show up and give a shit. Yeah. When on days you may not want to. Absolutely. It makes you go, okay, I've got my eye, like, out there, not on the, like, crappy situation that I'm dealing with right now. I can get through this. I can handle the suck. Because this other thing is more important. And this is, you know, kind of either a means to an end or it's a stepping Stone or it's just where I'm at right now. I'm going to do well anyway. Yeah. Oh, that's perfect. Okay. I know there are going to be people listening who want to find you. So where can they find you and what do you have going on in your world? You can find me@matchboxwomen.com I do a little bit on social media but that's one of those like marketing pillars that like I don't pour a lot of time into. I'll mix that in more later but you can find me there. My happy place is email. So I would love anybody listening that's enjoyed this conversation to sign up for my email. It's just free. I send a weekly email out with more of what we've been talking about. I have some free resources on my website. If you go to matchboxwomen.com message mastery, I've got a workbook there and I've got a number of other free resources that would give anyone listening a taste of my work and if not they're just useful. So yeah, I would love people to join me in email. That's where I feel like I can talk and share and I love back and forth. So when someone hits reply on an email it comes right to me and I'm the one that answers. So yeah, Aaron writes the best email. So definitely if you end up on her email list for sure write back and say hi. That's some of the most validating stuff that can happen is just having someone write back a little one liner or if they, if they really end up like pouring their heart out, it's like thank you. Just yesterday I got an email that said Eamonn with a little like, like mic drop thing and I was like, yes, thank you. Yeah, so go get on our list and then write her back. Yeah, make our day. Thank you so much for this. This is such a cool lens to just look at branding through that. I was telling you before we hit record, I haven't had anybody look at it through this lens of the mind, body, spirit, connection and weaving that into business which is so critical because we are the ones going into life and to business and we're taking ourselves in all the places. Yeah, I love the idea of leaving stuff at the door and I think on days we can do that but man, that's not a, that's a hard thing to consistently do so it really is. Well, thank you so much. Thank you and I will catch you next time.